If you could start all over again with a new IPC setup... and doing it RIGHT was ahead of cost priority wise, what would you do different than your current setup? First time poster, long time lurker. Sorry I'm long winded.
I am an IT guy by day. We recently purchased a new house and I am in the process of basically remodeling the entire house in one way or another. I have ran CAT 5e all over the house, in most cases multiple cables, and I am currently getting ready to start placing cameras outside. We have some frequent petty crime in our neighborhood (mainly people leaving their cars unlocked) so I'm not necessarily looking for things to solve a specific problem but more from an "in case" perspective. I have installed many IP cams in various customer offices and some houses, but never really had the opportunity to "do it right" nor would I claim that I am a surveillance expert by any stretch. I believe that every time I have done this it was for a specific reason; employee safety, or for liability reasons etc. Some cameras were limited in funds and the quality was horrible (not my choice) but it works so they still function and use them. I have never really had the opportunity to do it the right way.
I don't want to say that money isn't an object, but a long time ago I learned my lesson about getting what you pay for. So I would rather spend a little more money and get something good rather than just having something that works. I recall a client who installed a camera because someone was stealing from petty cash and we finally catch the thief on video; or we think. But because the best we could narrow down a timeline was to "sometime between 5 PM Friday and 8 AM Monday" we could never find the evidence we needed in that 63 hours of footage, even watching back at 2x speed would have been over 30 hours of staring at a screen. 4x would have been 15 hours and anything more than that you miss seeing it happen. So having a recording solution that actually works with some intelligent search functions is one thing that I really am interested in. As well as very high quality images to work with.
What I am trying to accomplish:
We have baby #2 on the way. For my first son, we had a nework PTZ camera with audio mounted in the nursery. But I had to leave my Mac on at night with iSpy (I think it was) full screen and speakers turned up. It worked but wasn't ideal. I don't want to put a computer in our bedroom this time if I can avoid it; at least not like that. My wife bought one of those camera/app combos recommended by another new mommy that we plan on using for trips and most likely our go to for monitoring the baby in the nursery. But I also have a new Foscam 1080p R2 that I plan on mounting in the nursery (I was really impressed with this camera - not their app or web interface but the picture quality, how quiet it is when moving etc). My main goal is to be able to view this via a picture in picture window on our bedroom TV. Initially I was trying to do this via an Apple TV app, but after much searching it seems like none of the apps out there do everything I would want. Not to mention using this as a baby monitor sucks because we won't really hear audio while it's in the picture in picture mode. Doesn't do much good if I have to switch input to hear audio. So I believe that we are going to rely on the wife's purchase as a baby monitor at least for audio. But I still want to be able to view 1-4 cameras via a picture in picture window on my bedroom TV either on demand or leave it on the nursery camera all night.
Would a simple NVR be the best solution here? Plugged in via HDMI to a second input on my TV? Any good suggestions? I would want something small that would write to network storage somewhere else in the house. This kinda ties into another question I'll get to a bit.
I do want to install cameras outside my house. And IMO if I'm going to have them they may as well record. So this sounds like another NVR somewhere or possibly still using the one in my bedroom but recording to FTP or other network drive? This would have to be a small device that basically just allowed me to stream IP cams with an HDMI or VGA output to view on TV. I have a small shelf mounted under my TV so not a lot of room here at all. Cable box, Apple TV, and NVR.
All of the locations I have picked for cameras will be free from being washed out by the sun. But obviously will need to have IR abilities. I would welcome some opinions on what PoE cameras with good-great picture quality both day and night?
With HD streaming, i'm assuming that bandwidth is going to be an issue that grows with more cameras? I was thinking about setting up a completely separate network for my cameras and NVR. Internally the network would only be for my cameras and NVR and viewing from my iPhone would be done via the internet, even when home. Second static IP address reserved just for this. As opposed to having to rely on vlan for my camera network? I'm looking for some advice here from seasoned pros or really any alternate opinions. Is there such an NVR that will allow me to create a second network just for cameras to communicate with my NVR but the primary network of the NVR for viewing would be on my local LAN? To relieve the IP camera traffic from my already congested network. Or is vlan the best option here?
Sorry for asking so many questions. I have gone through many - many posts here. And while most of this has probably been answered, not really that easy to locate. Not to mention I thought that this would be a good topic to get some wheels turning. So thank you in advance for any welcomed advice.
I am an IT guy by day. We recently purchased a new house and I am in the process of basically remodeling the entire house in one way or another. I have ran CAT 5e all over the house, in most cases multiple cables, and I am currently getting ready to start placing cameras outside. We have some frequent petty crime in our neighborhood (mainly people leaving their cars unlocked) so I'm not necessarily looking for things to solve a specific problem but more from an "in case" perspective. I have installed many IP cams in various customer offices and some houses, but never really had the opportunity to "do it right" nor would I claim that I am a surveillance expert by any stretch. I believe that every time I have done this it was for a specific reason; employee safety, or for liability reasons etc. Some cameras were limited in funds and the quality was horrible (not my choice) but it works so they still function and use them. I have never really had the opportunity to do it the right way.
I don't want to say that money isn't an object, but a long time ago I learned my lesson about getting what you pay for. So I would rather spend a little more money and get something good rather than just having something that works. I recall a client who installed a camera because someone was stealing from petty cash and we finally catch the thief on video; or we think. But because the best we could narrow down a timeline was to "sometime between 5 PM Friday and 8 AM Monday" we could never find the evidence we needed in that 63 hours of footage, even watching back at 2x speed would have been over 30 hours of staring at a screen. 4x would have been 15 hours and anything more than that you miss seeing it happen. So having a recording solution that actually works with some intelligent search functions is one thing that I really am interested in. As well as very high quality images to work with.
What I am trying to accomplish:
We have baby #2 on the way. For my first son, we had a nework PTZ camera with audio mounted in the nursery. But I had to leave my Mac on at night with iSpy (I think it was) full screen and speakers turned up. It worked but wasn't ideal. I don't want to put a computer in our bedroom this time if I can avoid it; at least not like that. My wife bought one of those camera/app combos recommended by another new mommy that we plan on using for trips and most likely our go to for monitoring the baby in the nursery. But I also have a new Foscam 1080p R2 that I plan on mounting in the nursery (I was really impressed with this camera - not their app or web interface but the picture quality, how quiet it is when moving etc). My main goal is to be able to view this via a picture in picture window on our bedroom TV. Initially I was trying to do this via an Apple TV app, but after much searching it seems like none of the apps out there do everything I would want. Not to mention using this as a baby monitor sucks because we won't really hear audio while it's in the picture in picture mode. Doesn't do much good if I have to switch input to hear audio. So I believe that we are going to rely on the wife's purchase as a baby monitor at least for audio. But I still want to be able to view 1-4 cameras via a picture in picture window on my bedroom TV either on demand or leave it on the nursery camera all night.
Would a simple NVR be the best solution here? Plugged in via HDMI to a second input on my TV? Any good suggestions? I would want something small that would write to network storage somewhere else in the house. This kinda ties into another question I'll get to a bit.
I do want to install cameras outside my house. And IMO if I'm going to have them they may as well record. So this sounds like another NVR somewhere or possibly still using the one in my bedroom but recording to FTP or other network drive? This would have to be a small device that basically just allowed me to stream IP cams with an HDMI or VGA output to view on TV. I have a small shelf mounted under my TV so not a lot of room here at all. Cable box, Apple TV, and NVR.
All of the locations I have picked for cameras will be free from being washed out by the sun. But obviously will need to have IR abilities. I would welcome some opinions on what PoE cameras with good-great picture quality both day and night?
With HD streaming, i'm assuming that bandwidth is going to be an issue that grows with more cameras? I was thinking about setting up a completely separate network for my cameras and NVR. Internally the network would only be for my cameras and NVR and viewing from my iPhone would be done via the internet, even when home. Second static IP address reserved just for this. As opposed to having to rely on vlan for my camera network? I'm looking for some advice here from seasoned pros or really any alternate opinions. Is there such an NVR that will allow me to create a second network just for cameras to communicate with my NVR but the primary network of the NVR for viewing would be on my local LAN? To relieve the IP camera traffic from my already congested network. Or is vlan the best option here?
Sorry for asking so many questions. I have gone through many - many posts here. And while most of this has probably been answered, not really that easy to locate. Not to mention I thought that this would be a good topic to get some wheels turning. So thank you in advance for any welcomed advice.